Back in Hawaii

Lava overlook
SFX Crew
  After seven months of working in the Pacific Northwest, British Columbia, and Alaska, I am finally back in the Hawaiian Islands. I'll be running the expedition side of things again on the UnCruise boat Safari Explorer. The trips are one-way, week long, adventures from the Big Island to Molokai, or vice versa. I am excited to see alot of veteran crew back again this year as well as some fine new additions.

Bowriding Spinner Dolphins
Backflipping dolphins
  We managed a few days of training before the boat showed up and again I took advantage of that time to get the crew over to the Hilo side of the Big Island to see the active volcano. The flow has moved a little from last year and is just trickling into the ocean now compared to the fire hose that caused a huge steam cloud last winter. We tried to walk uphill towards the fresh surface flows but were eventually turned around by the sheer distance across the treacherous terrain.

  Our first weeklong trip is already in the bag. We had a packed boat with wonderful guests. And despite not seeing manta rays on our night snorkel we did have many dolphin encounters including the playful spinner dolphins pictured here, and we swam with more turtles than we could shake a stick at. An early humpback whale was added to the list right before we took the guests on a rare backwall Molokini snorkel.

Crew bonding on the lava fields
  I always worry that my Hawaii information will disappear in the months that I spend guiding up in Alaska, but again it came rushing back to me when I needed it and now I am feeling like mid-season form. The crew is also firing on all cylinders making for a very smooth trip. The sun just rose here in Molokai so I'm off for an all day adventure of waterfall hiking and cultural immersion. Hopefully lots more Hawaii post to come!

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